New – Samba Grill

Opened on June 17th, 2008, this small, buffet-style Brazilian barbecue joint in Astoria was something I just happened to stumble upon. The space was very clean, with flat screen TV’s hanging on the walls playing Brazilian music videos (who knew there was such a thing?) Walking towards the back, there is a buffet on the left-hand side which changes daily, and straight back there is the "pit" with all different kinds of slow-roasted, barbecued meats.

At Samba Grill, you have the option of paying $4.99 per pound (buffet), $5.99 per pound (meats and buffet) or $22.95 all-you-can-eat meats and buffet, which they call "Rodizio-style." If you opt for Rodizio-style, you select your barbecued meats, which include BBQ beef ribs, flank steak, turkey wrapped in bacon, pork spare ribs and sausage, and they bring them out to your table and slice it straight off of the skewers. Unfortunately I was running a little low on cash, so I opted for the $4.99 per pound buffet, and believe me, I left fully satisfied even though I only paid $5.70 for my meal (pictured above).

As I said before the buffet menu changes daily, so on that day, I had chickpea salad, corn, regular romaine salad, fried yucca (one of my favorites), sweet plantains, two BBQ spare ribs, one piece of BBQ chicken, Feijoada, which is a Brazilian pork salad with beans, and one piece of Empadao, a Brazilian chicken and puff pastry dish similar to American pot pie. All that for $5.70! It was so tasty – the ribs had that sweet molasses, stick-to-your-fingers glaze on it, and the brazilian puff pastry pie was so buttery and flaky. Nummas (oh yea thats my word for yummy-deal with it). I honestly can’t wait to go back with some extra cash to try the BBQ meats hot off the grill.